A Wolf's Kiss

Chapter : 5

Mark studies all the tools Cole keeps under the sink in his kitchen, next to the cleaning liquids. The tools look old since they belonged to Cole’s grandfather, and it’s evident Cole doesn’t use them, but Mark thinks he can work with most of these. If the window is stuck, Mark has an idea of what he’ll use to fix it, so he grabs the hammer and everything else he needs before going down the stairs to the clinic.

Cole has opened up more to Mark these past few days, and Mark feels more and more at ease with him with each passing day too. Mark is not afraid of humans like some werewolves are, but he didn’t expect to grow so comfortable with a human in such a short period. It probably has to do with Cole’s scent, though. He smells lovely, and Mark wonders if it’s normal for a human to smell so good.

Mark knocks on the consulting room door where Cole is getting ready to check on a patient in a few minutes. Cole is wearing mint green scrubs that make his blond hair look brighter, and Mark watches his back as Cole arranges what he needs - a vaccine and gloves. But far more interesting than what Cole is doing are the moles on his neck. Mark speaks before he stares too much.

“I’m going to fix the window, Cole.”

Cole smiles when he looks over his shoulder and sees Mark. “Sure! Sure!”

They’re in the same consulting room where they first met, but right now, the daylight makes the place look a lot warmer.

Cole carefully leaves what he was doing on the table before turning to Mark. It is the same table where Mark laid when he was in wolf form almost a week ago, and Mark is once again in awe of how different things are from that night.

Cole stands close to the window to watch Mark work. He wraps a red kitchen cloth around a woodblock and places it against the window frame at the bottom of one side. Cole is watching him intently; arms crossed over his chest and brow furrowed. He has a pretty face.

Mark taps the wood gently with a hammer, and Cole gasps, startled by the loud sound. “Be careful not to break the glass!”

“I’m careful,” Mark grumbles. “‘m not an animal,” he feels the need to add.

“Didn’t say you were one,” Cole sounds sincere, and Mark relaxes, but his relaxation doesn’t last long because Cole is walking closer to him, and he’s difficult to ignore. “I know you’re not an animal.” Mark glances at Cole from the corner of his eye and catches Cole smiling to himself. “You’re just half an animal,” Cole giggles. It’s a pretty sound that catches Mark’s attention as much now as the first time he heard it.

Everything Cole does is eye-catching, and everything Cole does makes Mark curious. Mark uses the moment to clear one of the questions that have been clouding his mind. “Hey Cole, can I ask you something?” Mark wonders while hammering.

“Sure.”

“How do you know what a shifter is?”

Cole hums and looks outside the window, at the many beautiful trees outside. “Oh, well, my grandfather used to tell me shifters lived in the woods here.” Mark can hear the wind blowing through the trees behind the clinic. “He’d say they were close to us, and he told me many stories about shifters. I believed him when I was little, but we never saw one when he would take me to the woods, and then I stopped believing it when I got older because I had never seen one. But once you were there in front of me, I knew you were telling the truth.”

Mark can understand that sensation; when he was around Cole, he also felt like Cole was telling the truth.

Mark moves to the bottom of the other side of the window frame and continues with the hammering. Cole flinches at the sound again, so Mark tries to put in less strength. He moves back and forth between both sides of the window sash, moving up until he reaches the top of the frame, and he hears the window click. This window’s model is different from the ones Mark builds back at his pack, but he figured it was the same logic.

“Okay, it’s fixed,” he turns to Cole with a gentle smile.

“Really?” Cole moves closer.

“Try it yourself. Close it.”

Cole leans forward to close the window, and he gasps happily when he slides it shut. This close, Mark gets to sniff more of Cole’s scent. It’s intoxicating, and it makes Mark lick his lips. But more importantly than that, between all the animals' scents that linger to the skin of the veterinarian, he smells faintly of shifter.

It’s not the first time Mark has caught it. When he got confused with the dog’s scent and the shifter scent, he returned to Cole. Mark can sense the same smell he felt on the dogs on Cole, or maybe because Mark feels attracted to him, Mark’s wolf wants to believe Cole is a wolf too. Whatever it is, the scent confuses Mark and with each minute he spends staring at Cole’s soft smile, he grows more and more confused.

That night, instead of reading the book Cole left for him days ago, Mark goes to the woods to clear his mind. He can’t shift yet because he hasn’t fully healed, but being surrounded by trees and away from all the humans might do him good.

He walks and walks, leaving behind all the noise and the streetlights from the small town. Mark didn’t think about the fact that he was wearing Cole’s clothes, so Cole’s scent accompanied him to the woods.

Mark doesn’t understand why he feels compelled to pull the shirt up by its collar to smell it. He doesn’t know why he reacts like this to a human, but his wolf asks him to shift, and Mark thinks he should.

His wolf might know why Cole makes him feel this way.

❦

When Cole wakes up, Mark is not in his apartment. It’s strange for him to leave without telling Cole anything, but Cole remembers Mark wanted to look for other shifters, so maybe he went to do that.

Cole eats lunch alone, and he realizes that even if it's been only a few days, he's already gotten used to Mark's company. Cole enjoys his strange comments about the food Cole eats and his brief anecdotes about his pack. Cole likes talking to him. He likes how Mark hums when he listens, and Cole likes the small insights he gives to Cole's ramblings. Cole guesses, even without noticing, he must have felt very lonely before Mark barged into his veterinary, because now he's yearning for the werewolf's company.

Even when Mark isn't around, Cole is thinking about him.

Mark doesn't come to sleep that night. Cole spends all night rehearsing how he will scold the shifter for going out all day without saying when he will return, but Cole is not worried; he knows Mark is fine.

However, the following day, Mark is not home yet. Cole frowns when he sees the empty couch. He wonders where Mark is. The apartment is silent without him. The werewolf is quiet, but his presence always distracts Cole.

Cole tries not to worry about it; Mark must be okay. Cole remembers he hasn't gone for a run in a whole week because Mark always finds a way to make Cole late for work, but now that the shifter isn't around, Cole can finally exercise. He changes into something more comfortable and guesses he'll see Mark later today.

Just as he expected, when Cole returns from running, sweaty and desperate for a shower, he finds Mark waiting for him outside the clinic. He looks a little dirty, so he maybe went to the woods. Cole hopes he didn't shift because if he did, the stitches might have fallen out. "Hey, you were out a while! Were you searching for other shifters? How did it go?" Cole asks once he's in front of him.

“Okay.” Mark’s answers coldly, avoiding looking at him.

Cole hoped to find out what he went to do, but Mark is not one to elaborate. "Did you find any?" Cole tries as he heads towards the door; Mark follows behind him.

"No." He's not talkative today.

When they enter the small apartment, Mark goes to the kitchen to search for food. Cole will shower before opening the veterinary clinic, but he catches Mark stretching to grab a snack from the cupboard, and notices he winces slightly. A wave of protectiveness hits Cole

at the sight of discomfort, and he changes his route from the bathroom to the kitchen. “Mark! How’s your wound?” Cole asks while walking closer to him.

Mark avoids his gaze to stare at the cupboard. “Getting better,” he grumbles.

"Does it hurt?" Cole insists, getting in Mark's space. Cole is not backing down, and he takes enough steps until Mark's back hits the counter. Cole hopes he looks both severe and intimidating, so Mark tells him the truth about what he was doing. Mark remains quiet, squinting his eyes at Cole. He is probably amused at Cole's attitude. “Show me,” Cole orders. He saw Mark wince, and he's acting weird. Mark lifts an eyebrow, but he doesn’t question Cole. As usual, he listens to Cole’s orders.

Cole waits for him to lift his shirt and show him the bandages. The last time Cole had changed the gauze, Mark only lifted his shirt enough to show him the wound. But this time, Mark takes a small distance from Cole to tug the shirt's collar and take it off his body. He leaves the white shirt on the counter and glances at Cole.

Cole didn’t expect Mark to undress right there in the kitchen, he thought Mark would only lift his shirt to show him the skin, but now he’s shirtless and close to Cole. Cole tries not to look at his chest or stomach, or arms and shoulders, and just focuses on his ribs. He gasps when he sees the terrible-looking wound.

“Mark! It looks bad!” Cole brings his hands to his mouth. It's not bleeding, but the cuts are open. "Did you shift?" He looks up to frown at Mark, and the werewolf won’t meet his eyes. “Oh God- the stitches.”

Mark clenches his jaw. “It's okay-”

"No! It's not fine!"

"-I didn’t want you to worry.” Their eyes meet at the small confession.

He sounds sincere, and he's looking at Cole intensely. For a moment, Cole feels warm, but then he forces himself to look away from his handsome face. “I told you not to shift! Why did you do it?” Cole pouts. He can't help himself, and he brings his fingers to the wound. Mark winces at the touch, and Cole whines. "Sorry!”

"I'm sorry I shifted," Mark answers. "I broke the bandages when I did," he admits while looking at the floor, and his lips set in a pout so Cole can only think of a sad puppy. Cole doesn’t want to scold him, so he just nods. The cuts feel rough under the tips of Cole's fingers. They were on their way to scarring, but now they look swollen once more. Cole cranes his neck to take a better look at the cuts. He spreads his hand under them, touching Mark's flat stomach. He involuntarily glances at the black hair trail under his navel but then looks back at the wound.

"Why did you shift, Mark?"

“My wolf..." Mark starts, but he doesn't finish his sentence. Cole is studying the wound; he has never seen a cut heal this way. Maybe it has to do with Mark being a shifter.

"Your wolf?"